TORY REBELS ATTEMPT TO FRUSTRATE FRACKING

The Times, 20 September 2018

Ben Webster

Conservative MPs are preparing to rebel against the government over its proposal to allow fracking companies to carry out exploratory drilling without [local] planning permission.

About 20 Conservative MPs are expected to vote against the proposal, which is subject to a public consultation, if ministers decide to try to push it through parliament next year. Labour has pledged to ban fracking and the government has a working majority of only 13.

Cuadrilla is preparing to start the first fracking in the UK since the process of forcing water, sand and chemicals down a well to fracture rock was temporarily banned in 2011 after the company caused minor earthquakes near Blackpool. The government has given Cuadrilla final approval for the fracking of two wells at Preston New Road in Lancashire. Ministers approved the process for the first in July and the second yesterday.

The threatened Tory rebellion will not prevent fracking taking place but might slow down the development of the industry, which has been hampered by local authorities taking more than a year to decide applications for test drilling to check if a site is suitable.

The government published proposals in July to treat test drilling as permitted development, meaning that the companies would no longer need to gain local authority approval. They would still have to seek planning permission for fracking but the government has said that this could be determined by ministers.

Conservative MPs including Lee Rowley, Greg Knight, Mark Menzies, Nick Herbert and Bob Seely raised concerns about the loss of local decision-making in a parliamentary debate on the government’s proposal. Mr Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, opposes Ineos’s plans to extract shale gas in his constituency and is helping to lead the Conservative rebellion as chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on the impact of shale gas.